Totally sweet entrance though
I had read so much about it. Back in the 1970s, it was probably the shit. Especially for kids. Hell, I'd enjoy it now too. You see, Time Warner opened up this theme park in little old West Milford, NJ. It was a unique one at that. You could drive your own car or even walk in certain sections through a wonderful safari experience. The park boasted over 1,500 animals including Lions, Tigers, and Bears (oh my)...plus baboons, camels, elephants, and plenty more. It had little shops that sold snacks and gifts. There was also a reptile house, a dolphin show, a petting zoo, camel & elephant rides, and costumed Looney Tunes characters.
As she originally stood. Photo credit to WeirdNJ.com
Another beauty from weirdjersey.tumblr.com
This theme park was not without controversy, however. Two people were injured. One man Abraham Levy was attacked by two lions when he was riding in a taxi (um...what??) through the park. Another woman was bitten by a baby elephant when she ignored the rules because she figured "Damn, I really want to touch that harmless baby elephant. No way it's going to hurt me." Guess what? Wrong. And she even acquired $200,00 from the park as some sort of injury compensation. Besides physical injuries, there were complaints of the park animals escaping into the wilds of West Milford. Obviously not a way to win townspeople over. Then there was the whining about traffic. Though, frankly, I think everyone bitches about traffic. In the end, it was poor management and the inability to expand the park because residents weren't going to put up with any more traffic that shut it down. The Jungle Habitat last opened its gates on Halloween weekend of 1976.
Needless to say, I was totally siked about seeing decaying zoo buildings and enclosures. What I found was something totally different.
Granted there were promising signs, like the sign above, the shabby fences still partially up, or the large metal gates that looked like something out of Jurassic Park. There was also evidence of the previous roads. At one point we stumbled across a massive parking lot.
That was about as exotic as it got unfortunately. We didn't even get to spot any famed wild ostriches or baboons. Definitely a let-down. It was eery walking around and envisioning the combination of enclosed wild beasts and sweaty tourists cruising through in their mustard yellow or olive green cars. (Fun fact, partially unrelated: the top registered car in the 1970s was a Ford Cortina.) I also wondered about what goodies I was missing out on because: 1. I didn't have a map 2. Everything was still pretty heavily covered in icy snow.
I will say though, that this place is probably wonderful for joggers or trail riders in the summer. The fact that there are still paved roads amazes me. It also happens to be part of Long Pond Ironsworks State Park (hard to imagine that Long Pond is so huge) and next to Norvin Green State Forest.
Maybe I'll have to go tiger-hunting in the summer. Until then, I leave you with a video of Jungle Habitat when it was in its prime.
Links for the curious:
Great old pictures
More pictures from the glory days
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